The Washington critic., 1887-01-29
GRANDMOTHER'S MONEY.

"Bless and save us, mother, what be
ye doin' ?" demanded Farmer Martin
In great ama2ement, as he came In at
the kitchen door for jug of molasses
and water.
'1'm a cleunin' house." said Mrs.
Martin.
If Mrs. Hosea Martin had been going
to masquerade party she could
scarcely have disguised herself more
Systematically. Her head was tied up
in rolcr.towl whose, ends escaping
behind" streamed like meteor TO the
troubled air." her porily figure was
encased in n coarse working apron, her
skirts were pinned up and her sleeves
rolled high above the elbow.
Didn't know yc calkelated to com.
mence to-day" said the farmer.
"Well. didn't exactly" owned the
wife. "But the minute your mother
made up her mind she'd have the
horse and wagon and 20 over to Dea-
con Trudgcs Widows TO spend the
day, / made up my mind to begin
house cleanin'. You see, Hosea, you
know yourself, that Mother Martin is
pleasant old lady, and / set deal of
store by her, but she can't bear to have
nothing disturbed, and them files of old
papers up garret, and heaps of rusty
tins and old bottles down cellar, aud
the broken crockery back of the
pantry door that she always says she's
going to mend when she gets time, and
the barrels Of rags In the storeroom
she's going to sort over in a minute of
leisure"
"What be ye goin' to do with 'cm?"
asked Farmer Martin, as his wife
paused to draw long despairing
breath.
They're gone ?" said Mrs. Martin,
with roguish twinkle in her eyes.
"Gone where?'
Matilda sold the rags to rag man
before grandma's wagon was out of
sight," said the enterprising matron.
1.-THE papers Elder Boley gave me five
dollars for, because they dated clear
back to President Zach Tayler's times,
an he said they'd be q curiosity for
the young mems reading room. Much
of curiosity, indeed And the crockery
and the old tin cans and the bottles as
amt good for nothin' under creation
gave Bill Belts a quarter to take 'em
down TO the old well by the stone
fence, and fling 'cm all in"
"What % cried Mr.. Martin. "Fill.
in up my old well, eh? Where be
] goin' to water the cattle d yc s'posel"
at amt but little further TO the
brook" said Mrs. Martin, who was one
of those bustlipg, authoritative females.
who are law unto themselves. "And
that well amt safe. Never was, since
the curb rotted away -
Many gourd.shcll of pure cold
water I've drunk there, when the old
house stood close by under the butter.
nut tree" said the farmer, with a sigh
"Afore we pulled 1t down and built the
new one."
"Well, ye won't never drink no
more" said Mrs. Martin. THE
water s most all run out since we dug
the new well down here, and I've had
the children carrying cobbcstones there
all the spring, at penny a hundred,
20 get the huckleberry pasture cleared
out little. And now the old truck
has gone top of it-and n good rid
dance to two bad things at once,
says p
Mr.. Martin groancd.
"Well, mother" said he, "you al.
ways did have your own way, and you
always will, / s'pose. But what
bothers me is-what will grandma
sayy'
ii don't s'pose she'll be pleased" "
said Mrs. Martin, stirring vigorously
at pail of whitewash. "But it's
all, what is the use Of turning one S
house into magpie's ncst?'
The farmer filled up his jug and re-
treated TO the remotest Businesses Of the
timothy meadow, resolved to be as far
as possible out of the way when the
cd lady came home.
"Hetty likes her own way" said he
''and so does mother, and when film
and steel comes together there's mos
generally fire"
But poor Mother Martin came home
in quite different fashion from whaI
they expected. Struck down with
apoplexy at the neighbor's house, she
was carried back across her owr
hreshold-deadl
And Mrs. Martin, who, In spite oi
her peculiarities, had been fond of hcl
mother.in. law, wept real tears Of gen
uine grief, and audibly reioiCed tha
grandma had never known about sell
Ing of the old papers and the filling VI
of the ancient well
So Mrs, Martin, senior, was dead ant
buried In the old cemetery by tht
mountain side.
"SIange, amt itY' said Mrs, Deacon
Trudge, Everyone s'posed old Mrs
Martin had money in the bank, ant
now there amt a sign of 1t to bt
foundw
IAN fooled away in them dccelvln
shares that her son Josiah was ruined
with" said Mrs. Grundy. "Unbc
known TO Hosea aud his wife, That
the way it's gone you may depend" "
But Mr.. and Mrs, Hosea MartiI
could not believe that grandma coul,
so far have lost her senses as to frlttcl
solid money away like that.
"As sure as you live, Hosea, sal,
his wife, shes put 1t away some
where In stocking or a bag or vi
the chimbly, or under the bricks of tn
old kitchen hearth, and 1t must b.
found. For Malilla's sake Grandm
always said AIatty was to have he
money, and now that she's engaged t,
Rufus Burton, and all"
"It's my private opinion, IIetty,
said the farmer, shaking his head in
sort of discouraging way, "that yol
sold that money, done up in the r0!
bagsp"
"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Martin
growing pale ut might have been il
the files of newspapers, laid flat an,
stitched down. I've heard tell o sucl
,hngsl And to speak the truth, Hosea
I've been to the Elders and looket
over every identical one OF them pa
pcrs. By good luck the packagS, Aadn'
rorid.
u